Unrequited
by helpwasabi
Summary: Keith has been fighting his feelings for Lance for a long time, and ever since the BOM and coming back to Earth he noticed that Lance and Allura have only gotten closer.
1. Chapter 1

**KEITH**

Of course Lance was with Allura.

Of course he was touching her arm.

Something felt different though.

There he was standing, talking and doing his stupid laugh the one Keith hated but loved at the same time. It was the laugh reserved for the people he flirted with, that was something Keith learned almost instantly. He knows each of his different kinds of laughs, and it was definitely because he spent so much time in space with him and not because he had a very big crush on him.

Enveloped in his thoughts about Lance's laughter he never realized that he had been staring at the two of them for longer than normal. Lance and Allure both noticed though and had stopped their conversation in order to stare back.

"Hey Mullet, everything alright?" Lance's voice snapped Keith out of whatever trance he was in causing both a twist in his stomach and a look of distaste to mold onto his face.

Grunting Keith looked away from them. This was only met with a large sigh from Lance and Keith could swear that he heard Lance's eyes roll. Lance then went on to complain to Allura about how weird Keith had been recently and how he's such a downer. Each time his name was mentioned was a stab to the gut, Keith wasn't even mad about what Lance was saying – it's just how Lance is – it was more so how angry Lance's ignorance made him. Keith's fists tightened as he talked.

" _Lance –_ "

His anger sliced through the air and almost instantly the other two stopped in their conversation. Allura looked at Keith with a face of concern and Keith could swear he saw the same look in Lance's face. God he was annoying, it was always mixed signals with him and that only managed to fuel Keith's anger. Before Lance could even breathe, Keith was up and out of the room moving quickly towards the room the Garrison provided for him. Slamming the door behind him Keith could only wish that the picture in his mind of Lance looking like a kicked puppy would not be able to follow him into his room.

And as always – it didn't.

Keith fell onto his uncomfortable Garrison dorm bed and laid his head on the uncomfortable Garrison dorm pillow and stared at the plain dorm ceiling. This was something he did often, he felt weird being back in the dorm. It had been years since he was kicked out of the Garrison and that was something that ate at him constantly. Now he felt uncomfortable and heartbroken, now he couldn't shake the disappointment Shiro would have had in him and the stupid straight boy in the lobby talking to the pretty girl.

"Quiznak you Lance," Keith whispered. This wasn't like him at all, he managed to distract himself by leading the team and defeating Sendak as well as every other thing out there to destroy the world and Voltron but that was now over. It was like now he himself was the thing he had to fight, and none of the other paladins could help him. At least he felt like that was the case. Closing his eyes he started to take deep breaths and things were going fine till he heard a knock on the door.


	2. Chapter 2

LANCE

Lance stared in the direction that Keith had stormed off in still shocked by Keith practically yelling at him. It wasn't until he noticed Allura had been calling his name that he was finally able to shake off the sadness he felt at the pit of his stomach. He looked over to her replacing the frown with a fake smile.

"Are you okay Lance? You can check on him if you would like," Allura gave him a soft smile, genuine concern tracing her face.

He just shook his head and tried his best to appear normal. "No, no, it's Keith he's like this almost all the time he should be all good," he knew it was his fault and he was indeed going to check on him later, but right now the Princess had been his only focus.

KEITH

Before Keith could even tell the knocker to go away the door opened. An all too familiar figure stood at the doorway and instantly Keith huffed glaring at Shiro.

"Hey – I heard your door slam and wanted to make sure you were okay," Shiro entered the room and closed the door behind him softly.

"I'm fine Shiro, get out," Keith now glared at the wall. Shiro continued to stand there arms crossed. "I'm okay," he gave in and turned to look at him. Shiro still hadn't left the room and instead moved to the bed sitting on the edge. Keith's view became obstructed by the glowing light of Shiro's arm and he sighed softly, his harsh features becoming soft. He hated the fact that the other had known him well enough to figure out he was lying.

"Keith…" Shiro's voice was way too soft. "You slammed the door to your room you never do that when you're happy," Shiro switched from being soft to almost playful, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"I swear Shiro, it's just stupid. Don't worry nothing a little bit of training can't get rid of," He gave him a small smile and his body relaxed once he realized that Shiro would not be leaving.

"Lance?" Shiro raised his eyebrows. Keith just nodded. He knew almost everything about Keith's crush on Lance there was nothing they really kept from each other. "I know it's going to be hard but you have to learn to let go, it'll not only help you but it'll also help him."

Keith's eyebrows instantly scrunched and he looked up at Shiro in confusion. "How would it help Lance?"

"Well – you are lashing out at him more than usual after the whole situation with Allura arose and that does put a strain on relationships," Shiro kept his eyes on Keith. "Lance won't be happy if you just keep yelling at him or throwing him on the back burner, you of all people should understand that." Keith felt his heart drop when Shiro told him that, he knew he was correct, after Allura the two of them felt distant. He also knew that Lance wasn't one to enjoy being pushed aside and there he was doing that exact same thing – pushing him away.

Keith hugged his pillow close putting some distance between himself and Shiro as a coping mechanism and remained quiet. A sigh emitted from Shiro as he watched Keith revert back to placing a physically and metaphorical wall between them. "Easiest thing to do is go out there and talk to him it's only fair," Before Keith could object Shiro cut him off "– when you're ready of course. Adam and I usually took some alone time before we talked it out," he tried to give Keith a reassuring smile.

Keith still remained silent he wasn't even sure what he would talk to Lance about. His big crush on him? Definitely not. There was no way to avoid the topic since Lance would probably ask him why he had become so distant. "Lance isn't stupid if I talk to him about this he's going to figure it out, and will that really help anything?" Keith avoided eye contact.

Now it was Shiro who remained silent for a bit. "That's why I told you to take your time, think it out before approaching him. You have learned to harness your impulsive nature so I am sure you can this time around, you just need to talk to him you don't have to confess or come out or anything," Shiro rested his normal hand on Keith's arm and gave it a small squeeze. "I'll leave you alone then, don't worry about it too much okay we've been through worse," with a wink he was up and heading to the door.

"Thanks," Keith mumbled to him not watching as Shiro left the room. As the door closed behind him, Keith heard him greet Lance and then –

"He's asleep Lance."

Keith sent Shiro a mental 'thank you'.


End file.
